The boxing gloves worn by Muhammad Ali in the World Heavyweight Championship bout v Joe Bugner in Kuala Lumpur 30th June 1975, a pair of red Winning S

The boxing gloves worn by Muhammad Ali in the World Heavyweight Championship bout v Joe Bugner in Kuala Lumpur 30th June 1975, a pair of red Winning S.S FP-800, Tokyo, 10oz. boxing gloves with original lacing, the right-hand glove signed to the inside wrist by Muhammad Ali in ink, and to the outside of the glove in ink by Joe Bugner and inscribed K.L., 1.7.75 [the day after the fight], the left-hand glove signed to the outside by Muhammad Ali, dated 75 and further inscribed in the hand of Ali; sold with a signed letter of provenance from the present vendor (2) Provenance: Originally in the private collection of Robert Paterson (1940-1991), a famous London impresario in the 1960s and 1970s and business associate of Jarvis Astaire of Viewsport Ltd., an organisation that presented live UK cinema screenings of major boxing matches from all around the world including the Ali v Bugner fight in 1975. The gloves were gifted by Paterson to the present consignor, a family relation, when he was still a teenager in 1982. Thomas Hauser, Muhammad Ali's biographer, recalls an amusing incident regarding the gloves in Malaysia: ''... the most endearing tale of Muhammad Ali and gloves dates to his 1975 encounter with Joe Bugner in Malaysia. That happening was notable for the pre-fight rules meeting. After going through the normal, interminably boring regulatory minutiae, the local commissioner announced that the fighters' gloves would be held in a local prison until the day of the fight. That got Ali's attention. 'Wait a minute,'' Muhammad interrupted. ''You're putting my gloves in jail? This is awful. How can you do that? How can you put my gloves in jail? They ain't done nothing (pause) yet !'' The fight in Kuala Lumpur was the second occasion that Muhammad Ali and Joe Bugner met in the ring. The first fight on 14th February 1973 had been closely contested with Ali securing a narrow win. After the fight Ali declared that Joe Bugner, the Hungarian born British-Australian boxer and reigning European Heavyweight Champion, could be World Champion if he carried on boxing as well as he did. There was an estimated audience of 22,000 inside the oven-hot Merdeka Stadium, and the fight was watched live on closed circuit television in 60 countries. Ali's purse was $2million, whilst Bugner earned $500,000. The opening five rounds of the bout were characterised by Ali dancing around the ring and peppering Bugner with some sickening jabs in a one sided contest. Bugner was criticised for being negative but was in the shape of his life and upped his performance as the fight progressed. He began to stand his ground and concentrated on landing big body shots. The 10th round was Bugner's best and for the only time in the fight had Ali retreating. However, this only seemed to spur Ali to shift into another gear and in the 13th round the contest came closest to reaching a stopped decision. Bugner's legs buckled as Muhammad pinned him into a corner and unleashed savage hooks to head and body. One piledriver right hand rocked Bugner's head back and had the baying crowd on their feet, eager for a knockout. To his credit the challenger survived and went on to withstand a non-stop assault from 'the greatest' for the final three minutes of the fight. Ali was awarded the fight on a unanimous decision with his opponent remarking ''Well, gents, we tried.'' Ali's victory set up a third fight with Joe Frazier, the famous 'Thrilla in Manilla.' Frazier was sitting at ringside for the Bugner fight and the two had exchanged words before the opening bell. Joe Bugner was asked in an interview after the fight how he thought Ali-Frazier III would go, Bugner said prophetically: ''Muhammad is in for a hell of a fight.'' CAPTION FOR LICENSED PHOTOGRAPH Courtesy of Popperfoto/Getty Images.